Fender for cars



(No Model.)

G. LOWE. FENDER FOR CARS.

No. 496,424. Patented May 2, 1893.

m: norms PETERS coz. mama, wnsmuumn o c cordance with my invention.

" FNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE LOIVE, OF BUFFALO, NEIV YORK.

FENDER FOR CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 496,424, dated May 2, 1893. A Application filed November 25, 1892. Serial No. 45 3,043. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE LOWE, acitizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Fender for Cars, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to improvements in fenders for street-cars of the electric,cable, and other motive-power; and the objects in view are to provide a detachable fender designed to be removably attached to the forward end of the car or dash-board, and to be so constructed as to take up or catch an object, such as a person or animal, that may be in its path and to cast the same to one side; and furthermore, to be soconstructed and mounted as to break the shock resulting from the contact of the fender or the car with the object.

With these objects in view the invention consists in certain features of construction hereinafter specified and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawingsz-Figure 1 is a perspective of a portion of a car, the same being provided with a fender constructed in ac- Fig. 2 is a verticle section of the fender in detail. Fig. 3 is a detail view of a part of the structure.

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts in all the figures of the drawings.

In practicing my invention I employ in the make-up of the device a pair of horizontallydisposed, parallel half-tubular bars 1, and bow the same so as to have somewhat the appearance of the usual pilot or fender for cars. In each of these bars there is located a tubular rubber hose or other similar structure 2, and these are re-inforced or stiffenedby means of coils of wire extending from end to endthereof. At the backs of the bars is located a series of connecting-bars or stays, the central one at terminating adjacent to the upper bar 1, the two side ones 5 extending above the bars 1 and the intermediate bars 6 likewise extending above the bars 1. The bars 5 at their upper ends terminate in hooks 7. At the points of intersection between the bars 1 and 4, 5 and 6eye-bolts 8 receivethe rubbertubes, pass through the bars 1 and the said bars 4, 5 and 6, and at their rear sides or ends are provided with nuts for retaining them in The dash-board of the car at each end is provided with two vertical series of hooks 13, and with these are removably engaged a pair of depending coiled-springs 14: of sufficient stiffness or tensile strength, the lower ends of the springs being permanently attached to the upper ends of the intermediate intersecting bars 6, as shown at 15.

The central bar 4 is provided at its lower end with a shoe 16 having its front end beveled. This'shoe is designed to run over ice and snow and prevent the fender from engaging therewith.

It will be seen that in operation a body being struck by a fender, the shock thereof will be greatly lessened, in that the loose suspension of the fender by the springs permits the same to yield backward, which yielding is also permitted by the same loose hanging of the end bars in the hooks at the sides of the platform. These hooks permit of a limited rearward movement of the fender-before the same is arrested, such limited movement taking place against the tension of the springs. In this manner the fender acts as a buffer to break the blow of the car against the object and afterward becoming rigid catches said object and forces. it from the track. The rubber tubes backed by coils of wire also prevent the hard metal from coming in contact with the body or object and yet are sufficiently stiff to perform their offices and not become injured or impaired by collisions.

It will be seen that the device may be attached either permanently to each or either end of the car, or may be removably connected to either end as the case may be; and furthermore, that by reason of the series of hooks 13, with which the dash boards of the car are provided, the fender may be adjusted vertically, and thus be made to avoid ice, snow, or mud that may lie between the tracks.

It will be understood that any desired convenient means may be substituted for those shown and described for attaching the fender removably to the end of the car.

Having described my invention, what I claim is-- 1. The herein described fender, the same consisting of a series of transverse bars, intersecting bars connecting the same, rubber tubes located in front of the transverse-bars, coils of wire located in the rubber tubes, and means for suspending the fender to the front of a car, substantially as specified.

2. The herein described fender, the same consisting of a series of transverse bars and intersecting connecting bars, the latter provided with means for connection with a car, and rubber tubes secured to the front faces of the transverse bars, substantially as specified.

3. The combination with a car provided at its front with hooks, of a fender consisting of transverse bars, and intersecting or connecting bars, the end bars being pivotallyc011- nected to the sides of the car, and springs connected at their lower ends to the upper ends of the intermediate bars and at their up per ends to the hooks, substantially as specified.

4. The combination with a car, provided at its front with hooks, of the fender comprising the transverse bowed bars, the intersecting connecting bars located at the ends and intermediate the ends, of the bowed bars, coiled springs between the intermediate bars and hooks, and a removable connection between the end bars and car, substantially as specified.

5. The combination with a series of semitubnlar transverse bowed bars rubber tubes located therein, coiled springs located in the tubes, a series of connecting bars in rear of the bowed bars, the end bars terminating in hooks, eye-bolts receiving the tubes and passed through the transverse and connecting bars and nutted in rear of the latter, of hook-plates secured to the sides of the car and reinovably engaging the hooks of the end bars, keepers reinovably connected to the hook-plates, locking pins passed through the plates and hooks, coiled springs connected to the upper ends of the intermediate bars, and hooks located 011 the dash-board of the ear and engaging the upper ends of the springs, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto afiixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

GEORGE LOXVE.

Witnesses:

EDWIN M. FREAKLEY, SARAH FREAKLEY. 

